Speaker Notes And Handouts

---
name: speaker-notes-and-handouts
description: Sets up the notes master, handout master, and the print and PDF routes so a deck ships a usable speaker script and a readable leave-behind. Not for writing the notes content itself.
---

# Speaker Notes and Handouts

## When to use

Use this skill when a deck has to exist in more than one form: the version on screen, the version the presenter reads from, and the version the room takes away. Symptoms that it is needed — notes that print in six-point grey, a leave-behind at nine slides per page that nobody can read, a handout with last quarter's date in the footer, or confidential notes that travelled to a client because nobody stripped them. Do not use it to write what the speaker should say; this skill governs the containers, not the script.

## What it does

It configures the notes master and the handout master, chooses the right print and PDF route for each audience, and closes the leaks — stale footers, unstripped notes, unreadable thumbnails. The output is a configured pair of masters plus a print/export recipe per audience.

## Method

**1. Separate the three artefacts.** They are different documents with different jobs and they are governed by different masters:

| Artefact | Governed by | Audience |
|:--|:--|:--|
| The slides | Slide master and layouts | The room, on screen |
| Notes pages | Notes master | The presenter |
| Handouts | Handout master | The leave-behind |

In the file these are separate parts: `ppt/notesMasters/notesMaster1.xml`, one `ppt/notesSlides/notesSlideN.xml` per slide that has notes, and `ppt/handoutMasters/handoutMaster1.xml`. A deck with no notes has no `notesSlides` folder at all.

**2. Set up the notes master.** `View > Notes Master`. It carries six placeholders: Header, Date, Slide Image, Notes Body, Footer and Slide Number. Fix these once:

- **Notes body type size.** The default is small and the default typeface is not the brand's. Set it to the body font at 11–12 pt, left aligned, with real line spacing. A presenter reading from a lectern needs it legible.
- **The slide image placeholder.** Shrink it if the notes matter more than the thumbnail; a half-page thumbnail with a third of a page of notes is the usual failure.
- **Header and footer.** These *do* propagate to every notes page. Put the deck name and the date rule here.

The one thing that does not propagate: text typed into the notes *body* placeholder on the master. The master sets that placeholder's formatting and position, not its content.

**3. Write notes into the right place.** `View > Notes` (or the Notes button on the status bar) opens the pane under the slide; `View > Notes Page` opens the full page, which is what actually prints. Notes typed as a text box dragged onto a notes page are not notes — they will not appear in Presenter View and will not export with *Publish what: Notes Pages*. Type into the placeholder.

**4. Set up the handout master.** `View > Handout Master`. Its **Slides Per Page** dropdown offers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 9 slides, plus Slide Outline. Be clear about what this master controls and what it does not: it owns the Header, Footer, Date and Page Number placeholders and the page orientation, and nothing else. The thumbnail grid is generated by the slides-per-page choice; you cannot move, resize or restyle the thumbnails from here. If the leave-behind needs a designed layout, it is a document, not a handout — build it as slides at A4 and print full-page.

Choose slides per page by purpose, not by paper economy: **3 per page** is the working default because it is the only layout that puts ruled note lines beside each slide; **2 per page** for a leave-behind people will actually read; **6 or 9** only for a reference index. Nine 16:9 thumbnails on A4 render body text at roughly two points — treat that layout as an index, never as a document.

**5. Print.** `File > Print`, then the second dropdown (labelled *Full Page Slides* by default) contains both routes: Print Layout (Full Page Slides, Notes Pages, Outline) and Handouts (the six densities, Horizontal or Vertical ordering). Set **Frame Slides** on for handouts so a white slide has an edge on white paper, and **Scale to Fit Paper** on when slide size and paper size differ. Print greyscale drafts in *Grayscale*, not *Pure Black and White*, which flattens charts to solids.

**6. Export to PDF, per audience.** `File > Export > Create PDF/XPS > Options` (Windows), then **Publish what**: *Slides* for the screen version, *Notes Pages* for the speaker copy, *Handouts* with the slides-per-page for the leave-behind. Produce them as separate files with distinct names. One PDF cannot serve all three.

**7. On Windows only, escalate to Word for a real document.** `File > Export > Create Handouts > Send to Microsoft Word` offers *Notes next to slides*, *Blank lines next to slides*, *Notes below slides*, *Blank lines below slides* and *Outline only*, with **Paste** (static) or **Paste link** (updates with the deck). Use it when the leave-behind needs editable running text. There is no macOS equivalent.

**8. Close the leaks before the deck goes out.** Notes travel inside the `.pptx`. Internal pricing and "do not mention" lines have all reached clients this way. Before sending, run `File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document` and remove **Presentation Notes**, plus Comments and Document Properties. Keep the master copy with notes intact and ship the inspected copy. Check the date and footer too: they sit on the masters and stay stale until edited.

**9. Check Presenter View.** `Slide Show > Use Presenter View`, or Alt+F5 to start it directly. Notes render there at their own size, adjustable with that view's text-size buttons and independent of the notes master, so walk the heaviest slides through it before the rehearsal.

## Inputs

- The deck, and whether notes already exist.
- Who each artefact is for: presenter, room, client leave-behind, archive.
- Paper size and whether the handout prints colour or greyscale.
- Whether any notes are confidential.

## Output format

- Notes master settings: body font and size, thumbnail size, header and footer text.
- Handout master settings: slides per page, orientation, header, footer, date, page number.
- A print or export recipe per audience, with the exact menu path and options.
- The confidentiality decision: notes shipped or stripped, and how.
- Any slide where the notes overflow the notes page and need cutting.

## Example

Input: a 28-slide investment committee deck. The presenter needs a script, the committee gets a printed leave-behind, and the notes contain internal pricing.

Output:

- Notes master: body font 11 pt brand serif, thumbnail reduced to the top third, header "IC — Project Atlas", footer "Internal — not for distribution".
- Handout master: 3 slides per page, portrait, page numbers on, footer set to the meeting date.
- Presenter copy: PDF, Publish what = Notes Pages, printed single-sided.
- Committee copy: PDF, Publish what = Handouts, 3 per page, Frame Slides on.
- Confidentiality: internal pricing on slides 11–14 lives only in notes. Master copy kept; the distributed `.pptx` was run through Inspect Document with Presentation Notes and Comments removed, then re-checked by opening `View > Notes Page` on slide 12.
- Slides 6 and 19 have notes that overflow; cut to fit one page each.